She had been warned about the dangers of texting and driving. She knew how fatal the consequences could be. Yet, just one moment of what some might consider irrational judgment, a split second glance at the incoming text on her phone, had caused the accident.

For senior Sara Gassman, Sept. 25, 2009 started like most weekdays. Gassman had been driving to school, after stopping for coffee on the way. Just as she was turning onto the highway, she heard the unmistakable buzz of an incoming text. Gassman picked up the phone resting in her lap and read the text from her friend. This decision caused her to veer off the road. After unsuccessfully trying to correct herself, Gassman drove straight toward a ditch off the side of the road. In an attempt to brake the car and avoid the ditch, Gassman accidentally hit the gas and ended up hitting a tree at a speed of 60 miles an hour.

Common teenage stereotypes, such as lack of judgement and recklessness, often originate from incidents such as this. They may also be the result of ongoing studies of the numerous differences in the teenage brain versus the adult brain.

“A lot of people think that a teenage brain is kind of a mini adult brain,” doctor Maria Korth, a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children’s Mercy Hospital said. “The teenage brain is still very much in the developmental stages.”

Like most teenagers, Gassman had been warned multiple times about the dangers of texting in the car.

‘My parents told me that if I get in a wreck while texting and driving, they won’t buy me another car,’ Gassman said.

Despite these warnings, Gassman, before her accident, had regularly read incoming texts while driving.

‘Obviously I wasn’t really thinking about [the consequences],’ Gassman said.

Yet, according to npr.org, it’s not about what teens think, but how. A recent study shows that, contrary to prior knowledge, the brain is not fully matured until the late-20s. Studies have shown that a part of the brain called the frontal lobes, located near the forehead, are not fully connected in adolescents. This part of the brain is responsible for controlling, among numerous other functions, judgment, problem solving, and impulse control. According to psychologist Aileen Utley, it is this impulsive control that primarily differentiates the teen brain from that of an adult.

“Overall, impulsiveness decreases as people mature,” Utley said. “Teens in general do not think through decisions and actions as carefully as adults and consider various outcomes.”

Despite being less perceptive to adequate judgment and decision making, the teenage brain, according to npr.org, is more responsive to learning. Yet, it is this “excitability” of the brain combined with poor judgment that can leave teens more vulnerable to addiction.

“I think you see the increase in substance abuse because of the impulsivity,” Korth said. “Your frontal lobes assist you in controlling impulses and often times for teenagers the drinking or the substance use is an impulsive sort of activity.”

These factors of teen brain development may, according to Utley, correlate with drinking and even driving ages and laws. Males, whose brains fully develop at a later age than females, often, as a result, have a higher car insurance rate.

Luckily, Gassman, besides a possible increase in car insurance, suffered only a broken nose, a minor headache, and few dents in her car.

‘I don’t text anymore,” Gassman said. “I don’t even answer [my phone while driving] because I am too scared that what happened last time might happen again.”